


The Secret of Skaia

by vanishedSchism



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Homestuck
Genre: Blood and Gore, F/M, Humanstuck, M/M, Murder, Sollux with a Lisp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:30:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishedSchism/pseuds/vanishedSchism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Beta trolls, kids, and their cousins are all invited to a private island to celebrate the entrance, and near graduation, of highschool, but their hands become bloody when everyone wakes up in a strange building and is instructed to kill or be killed.</p><p>In other words, it's Battle Royale with the homestuck cast. Enjoy!</p><p>Tags will be added as they become relevant.</p><p>((Currently one hiatus to allow time for character and plot development.))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Last Day of Normalcy

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter doesn't contain any death, so please wait for a couple of weeks if you're looking for gratuitous violence. I will try to update as soon as possible, but I have a lot of academic and personal things happening right now, and this is one of the biggest projects I've ever taken on. Please be patient and enjoy the story.

_"Oh shit, oh shit"_ the short eighth grader thought as he ran through the trees. "She's going to find me here!" He looked around, panicked. He was running out of time. Then, his savior came in the form of a fallen tree. The black marks next to the break suggested that it had been hit by lightening once, a long time ago, but it had decayed and been a host to generations of termites since then. It was probably the shittiest hiding place in the world, but given the circumstances, it was the best he could manage. 

_Oh god, were those footsteps her? The leaves were definitely crunching, that was the sound of feet, he was sure of it. She could probably hear his damn breathing. Okay, focus Karkat, focus, it's going to be-_ "Augh!" he screamed as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up into the full green eyes of Nepeta Leijon, an amused smile gracing her face. 

"You're supposed to hide, Silly, not just throw yourself on the ground!" 

Karkat Vantas got up, wiped the pine needles clinging to his sweater off of himself, and shot her a respectable glare. However, having known Karkat since they were both eight, Nepeta was hardly fazed and simply said, "You're it," before bouncing off to find the rest of their classmates. 

Karkat sighed and walked out of the trees into the middle of the park, to the 'safety zone' comprised of a couple of towels laid out side by side that the rest of his friends would be try to get to before Nepeta could tag them too. He briefly considered sitting in the middle of the towels as he waited, but just as he was about to sit down, a boy came hurtling out of some bushes about thirty meters away. The blue scarf trailing behind him and purple streak in his hair made it impossible to not know who it was, and his ungraceful flop onto the blanket wasn't out of character either. 

"Ha! I got to the safe zone first, I w-win!" He exclaimed, jumping up and grinning. 

Karkat rolled his eyes. "Actually assfuck, you just don't lose. That glorious title goes to me. But if you'll remember, the point of the game is to be the last one to make it to the safety zone. This is hardcore hide and seek."

"Yeah, none of that sissy seventh grade shit." Someone said from behind Karkat. "We're gonna be little froshies in a couple months, gotta get out hardcore on before we're once more bottom of that four year totem that you fall of just as you reach the top. It's not a totem pole, it's like that greek rock. Call Sisyphus over here, he'll explain it for you." 

"Holy shit, when did _you_ get here?" Karkat exclaimed, turning to see the new boy. 

Dave shrugged and pointed to a tree. "Dropped out of there. I got bored of waiting for y'all."

"So ya decided to completely bypass the rules of the game?" Eridan asked. 

Karkat smirked. "Because you were doing so well following them."

Dave rolled his eyes. 

Karkat had been surprised the first time he'd seen him do that all those years ago. Considering his shades took up half of his fucking face he'd thought it would be impossible to tell when Dave's eyes did _anything_ , but there was something about the quirk of his eyebrows and the slight bob of his head that made it very clear when he was mocking someone. Or attempting to, at least. 

"I told you, I got bored. Anyway Karkles, you were here way before me."

"Well Nepeta found me, okay!" It wasn't his fault he couldn't climb trees, he'd never had any fucking occasion to learn.

"Seriously?" Dave said, sounding surprised. "I thought for sure hipster douche over there had gotten tagged." 

Eridan protested the nickname, and the three of them squabbled good-naturedly while they waited for the rest of their friends. 

Soon everyone but three were gathered on the blankets. 

"I knew Sollux and Vriska were competitive, but don't you think this is getting a little ridiculous?" A girl tall and developed enough to be mistaken for seventeen or eighteen said to a girl with short blond hair, black lipstick and a permanent smirk on her face that said in no uncertain terms she knew more than you. 

"Have a little more patience, Kanaya, we all know that ever since the War of the Spiders and the Bees they've felt an almost pathological necessity to outdo each other. But have no fear, because Nepeta is an excellent finder." There was a shriek from the woods and the girl's, Rose's, lips quirked up in a smile. "Ah look, here they are."

Two figures were running out of the woods, the tall, gangly boy slightly behind the dark haired girl. Nepeta, who was chasing them, emerged from the forest when they were only ten or so meters from the blankets. If neither of them slowed down, she wouldn't catch them, but of course, it was the kid who got to the safe zone last who won the game, so neither of them were running as fast as they could. About a meter and a half from the blanket, Vriska the girl in front, made a full stop, hoping Sollux wouldn't be able to stop in time and would fall into the safe zone. He, however, had been expecting this, and stopped just as gracefully as her. Until he was picked up, that is.

"Vrithka wha- augh!" He had time to scream, before being thrown into the safe zone. Vriska smirked as she stepped onto the towels. "You should be thanking me. After all, you're the one always saying second is the best. I believe I win."

\------

Karkat smiled at the memory. His friends were all idiots, and it was great to see them again after a summer of doing nothing but watching romcoms and horribly failing to beat Sollux in various online games. 

Speaking of, lispy fuck was looking at him strangely. Karkat's smile was immediately replaced by a scowl as he glared over a sleeping Gamzee in the middle airline seat to Sollux, who was on the aisle. Sollux put up his hands innocently and grinned, more used to that expression on Karkat's face, then turned back to whatever electronic he had buried himself in now. Really, Karkat should be grateful the programmer even checked in on him, you had to be pretty special if he'd tear his eyes from a screen for you. 

It completely baffled Karkat that Sollux would choose the aisle though. His window seat, at the front of the plan no less, made sense because he tended to get airsick, but he'd think, given Sollux's ability to sit in one place for two straight days, as long as he has plenty of red bull and five hour energy, he wouldn't need the aisle. Still, he supposed he could appreciate having the _ability_ to move around, although he himself really didn't give a fuck if he had to climb over Gamzee and Sollux when nature came calling. 

He flipped his friend the bird over the tall, sleeping kid in between them, then resumed staring out the window. 

They had been on the plane for three hours now, it was late enough that all the cabin lights had turned off and except for a couple of reading lights, the plane was dark. Even three hours later though, it was still difficult to believe they were on a Peixis private plane going to some private island in order to celebrate starting their first year of high school, especially since it was Feferi's cousin, rather than Feferi herself, who had invited them all. 

It wasn't that Meenah Peixis was mean, or even anti-social, but she had her own group friends, all seniors now, and even if they were all technically related, it's not like she knew Karkat and his friends all that well. He supposed that's why their cousins would be there too. He remembered how surprised he was when he was first invited to this party. 

He had opened his email because his dad occasionally sent him funny, by which he means very dark humored, comics, or even pictures of cool and stylish guns and knives, because his dad had a thing for knives. Even if Karkat wasn't really thrilled with the subject matter, it was one of the only things they shared, so he always read them and tried to respond in kind.

That day there had been no new emails containing diagrams of knives, but there was one titles 'listen up mother glubbers". He groaned as he opened it, hoping he wouldn't have to discern the meaning through countless fish puns. Nepeta's cat jokes were all the animal related humor he felt one person was obligated to deal with. 

The gods must have been with him that day, because the email, despite it's subject heading, was almost entirely pun-free. 

"Yo, lil' guppies. i have a proposal for you. My friends and I are havin a sweet Gonna be Seniors bash on a private island, and Aunty Condy decided it would only be nice to invite our lil' cousins and teach em how to be good fishies in their new school. Pack your bags for adventure and partying, and be at the airport 7:00 friday. All your parents will be gettin' details for planes and shit, and the tickets are already bought so there's saying you're not coming. Sides it'll be fun! 

See everyone on Friday! 3XD"

And here he was, two days later, looking out the window rather than watching a movie because the moving pictures made him feel sick. That was the reason he hadn't fallen asleep like the majority of his friends, he knew from experience that air travel and sleep didn't go together for him. It was strange then, that he was feeling so tired. Sollux, who also never slept, seemed to be nodding off too, and his computer was still open. Karkat thought perhaps these anomalies might have something to do with the hissing coming from the vents, but before he could reflect on the possible malicious intent of the air conditioning, his cheek was pressed against the window and his eyes were closed.


	2. The Man in the White Suit

When Karkat woke up, he expected the back pain. He had been on plane all night, after all. The headache wasn't out of the question either, but they didn't usually keep plastic chairs in planes, right? He could have sworn he had fallen asleep on a plush seat, but although he hadn't opened his eyes quite yet, he could definitely tell that whatever he was sitting on was not plush. Feeling confused, foggy, and a little irritated, Karkat opened his eyes, and what he saw answered none of his questions. 

The room he was in was small, cramped and full of not sixteen as he had expected, but thirty two groggy teenagers. He recognized a couple of them, such as Kanaya's cousin, Porrim, who looked mildly annoyed, but like she was patiently awaiting some explanation as she sat with her hands folded over her lap and scanned the room. Karkat decided not to think about the narrow band of metal that encircled her neck. The fact that everyone else in the room seemed to have one too didn't mean it wasn't just some strange welcome accessory, after all, Meenah's family was known to be somewhat eccentric. In the same vein, he definitely did not move his hands up to investigate the cool weight encircling his own neck. Instead, to take his mind off the things he'd rather ignore for the moment, he scanned the room, much like Porrim was doing. 

Although the dim, blueish light prevented him from making out many details, Karkat could tell that most of his friends were still asleep, sprawled out on top of individual desks,the silver bands that glinted in the blue light the only things that ruined the illusion of them all having fallen asleep during a particularly boring lecture at school. There was even a large dest with a thin desktop monitor that the "teacher" could use at the front of the class. Given the mystery of the situation, Karkat was glad the desk was unoccupied. 

Really, the room looked more like the set of a sci-fi movie than a classroom. That was what cinched it for him. Karkat decided that no, he was not going to think about these strange circumstances because they were most likely a dream, and he wasn't going to allow it to become a nightmare, because there was definitely that feel in the air. Instead he was going to ignore the creepy circumstances and think about some brighter, like the wonderful and most likely hilarious opportunities that awaited him at high school. 

According to all of the romcoms he'd watched, both over the summer and previously, there were three possible ways his first years of high school would go. There was the possibility of the dark, mysterious transfer student, that after a year of prudishness and simply surviving would teach him how to live, but that required someone actually transferring to his school and he doubted that would happen anytime soon. Not that the school itself was that bad, but it was located in Altern, Iowa, and nobody came Altern unless they had a dying grandmother who lived there. Karkat wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure that none of the current, frail grandparents had attractive grandchildren, although he supposed nieces and nephews were still fair game. The second, and more likely, scenario was that he would realize he had romantic feelings for one of his very close friends, and after horrible costume parties, significant stress, or perhaps an alien attack on the school, both parties would recognize their true feelings and kiss as the sun sets. Or maybe he'd get lost on the way to class and break a vase. 

But there were no kids running into the classroom late with toast hanging from their mouths, just black cement walls threaded with the blue veins that sourced the sickly blue light that washed all color from the room. Even Feferi's bright blues and greens could hardly be distinguished from each other in the cool light. 

Karkat sighed and lay his head on his desk, he wasn't going to fall asleep again, but he'd rather not stare at the strange walls any longer. He was dimly aware of the rest of his classmates waking up around him, and his headache fading as time passed, but it wasn't until a clipped, authoritative voice said, "Time to begin," that Karkat was pulled out of his daydreams.He frowned as he looked toward the front of the classroom and decided that even if this was a dream, he should probably start treating it a little more seriously. Maybe cooperating would make it end. 

Interestingly enough, Karkat had never seen the man standing in the front of the classroom before. Strike one for the dream theory. But although Karkat was beginning to accept this situation as real, or at least act as if it was, just in case, the man looked like something more than a mere mortal in his bright white suit that seemed to glow in the dim light and the splash of lime green in the shape of a bow tie at his neck. He was even wearing spats, just to complete the look. 

The man rapped his knuckles on the board, commanding the attention of every student in the room with just those to sharp taps. Then he smiled, and his teeth were the brightest white Karkat had ever seen. His grin reminded the boy of a crocodile, and Karkat made a mental note not to mess with this man. 

"My name is Doctor Scratch." He said as his eyes scanned the room. He nodded to himself when he was sure everyone was listening. "And you are on the island of Skaia." He held up a hand to stop the chatter. "I have been informed that you think you are here to party. That is true," he paused, then grinned, though the expression didn't reach his eyes, "to an extent."

"You are here to participate in a game, and you will listen to all the rules without any interruption, do I make myself clear?" 

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Then here are the rules. You will be required to fight each other to death." 

There was an immediate explosion of noise. Variations of _What fuck are you talking about? We'd never to something like that! You want me to kill my friends?_ and were occasionally clear above the general clamor.

Doctor Scratch tsked, disappointed at the class' reaction. 

"Oh dear, it seems we'll need a little demonstration. You," He jabbed a finger at Porrim, "get up." She complied, although not without a glare. He motioned her to the front of the room, just in front of his desk, then looked around the room again before pointing at Sollux's cousin, Mituna. 

At first glance, it was difficult Captors were cousins, after all, Sollux favored complete immobility and dark rooms while Mituna was often found in the park on a skateboard, but after talking with either of them for even the smallest amount of time, the similarities were clear. Even more than their sharp angles and bony bodies, the Captors carried themselves in a way that simultaneously denounced the necessity of the rest of the world, and at the same time gave off an air of sulk that rivaled Hamlet himself. 

Mituna slowly rose from his desk, then walked toward the damning finger. 

The man turned toward Porrim and handed her a knife, then walked towards Mituna. "Kill him." 

Mituna's eyes widened, but Porrim didn't move. 

Doctor Scratch frowned, then grabbed the boy by his hair and pulled him slightly forward. 

"If you don't, I will," he said as if he was talking about taking out the trash. 

Porrim didn't move from her straight, sure posture as she replied, just as calmly, "No."

Doctor Scratch sighed as if he really didn't want to do this but, these kids, well the only way they'd learn was through force. He pulled out a remote, punched a number using the keypad and pointed it at Porrim, his thumb hovering over a small button in the center. No one knew what exactly that button would do, but it was a clear threat. 

Porrim dropped the knife and kicked it under the desk, then crossed her arms

Doctor Scratch's hand must have tightened in Mituna's hair, because the boy winced, but didn't give him time to protest before slamming him headfirst into the edge of the table. 

Mituna's body went slack as his blood stained the table and dripped to the floor. 

Karkat himself was frozen in place, but he dimly aware of some of his classmates rising from their chairs in various stages of shock and protest. Latula Pyrope, in particular, seemed to be shrieking but Karkat's attention was drawn to Tavros, who had stood up and was running towards Doctor Scratch screaming, "You can't do that!" 

Karkat wasn't sure where it came from, but within the time he himself had taken to look toward Tavros, Doctor scratch had produced a previously concealed gun. The gun kicked and the shot drowned all other sounds in the room. Then there was a thunk in the following silence as Tavros hit the floor. He curled up, clutching his bloody leg. 

This time there was no screaming. The class understood the stakes. Still, the man at the front of the room must not have been satisfied, because now he grinned. It was the most terrifying expression Karkat had ever seen, and as Doctor Scratch raised the remote once more, it sent a shiver of dread down his spine. Then the button was pressed. 

Porrim didn't even have time to scream as blood pulsed from her throat under the collar. Karkat wasn't sure exactly what had just happened, but as the girl dropped to the ground, it was clear she wouldn't be getting up again. 

Doctor Scratch watched with mild disinterest, then bent down and grabbed Mituna. After that horrifying spectacle, Karkat was almost surprised to note the faint rise and fall of Mituna's chest right before he was thrown at the feet of one of the desks. Aranea Serket, the occupant of the desk, didn't move from her seat. 

"Kill or be killed," Doctor Scratch said, focusing everyone's attention back on him. "That is how the game works. Of course, the avoidance of death is not the only incentive, although it is certainly the most compelling. The winner will not only get to leave this island, and become the heir of CrockerCorp, but they will also get the chance to explore the rest of this building. I can assure you," he leaned forward in a conspiratorial whisper, "there are many secrets here worth dying for." 

He straightened up and then finished explaining the rules. Each participant, he said, as if they had a choice, would receive a backpack, which contained a map, pencil, food, water and an offensive of some kind, although he warned that not all were weapons in the conventional sense. Three times a day, at eight in the morning, two in the afternoon and ten at night, different sections of the island, clearly shown on the maps,would "activate" the collars and anyone who stepped into one of those zones would end up like "this disobedient, girl up here" then he gestured to Porrim's corpse. He'd call names in order dismiss the students. This staggering was supposed to prevent the killing from beginning before everyone had gotten away from the building.

With all the rules explained, Doctor Scratch stepped back, and sat down behind his desk, produced a sheet of paper, from a hidden drawer, then folded his bloody hands in front of himself. 

"It is Four O'clock, and the game has begun."

**Author's Note:**

> Wow guys, I'm really enjoying this. I hope you like reading it too. Although, unfortunately, I'm somewhat unsatisfied with what I've posted so far, I'm a much better writer than this demonstrates. Anyway, I've got a lot of personal stuff going on right now, between college applications, SATs, a musical, and the looming idea of NaNoWriMo, I just can't devote the time and attention this story deserves right now. 
> 
> However, DO NOT FEAR! In the next couple of months, I will be outlining exactly what is going to happen in this story and how it's going to differ from Battle Royale's canon (I'm going to give it a sci-fi twist, you'll love it). I will also be doing some research so I can write more racially and ethnically diverse characters (well, as diverse as a tiny Iowa town can muster) without just reverting to stereotypes. 
> 
> I really am excited for this project, and will hopefully be writing some less ambitious fics on the side, so it won't be like I just dropped off the face of the Earth, I just need to take some time and gather my thoughts for this story. 
> 
> Of course, I will check A03 frequently, so if you ever want to talk to me about characters, or request a fic (or type of death) or just want to chat, I'd love all of those things. Thank you so much for sticking with me and this story, you won't be disappointed!


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